Lincoln Littles answers the call

By Suzanne Schneider

No two days are alike in my role as Associate Director with Lincoln Littles. There is one certainty within my day-to-day, however. The phone will ring. A LOT.

The calls cover a variety of things, most are early childhood related, with the exception of an occasional call from my own children still navigating young adulthood.

Here’s a look at an average day addressing the needs for quality and affordable childcare in our community.

At 8 am, there is a call from a single dad who lost his job and needs help with childcare costs while he interviews for a new position and waits for his first paycheck.

Next an email and call with a community member that wants to start her own childcare and needs help with all the processes, there are so many to navigate.

Then the call from a new childcare director that needs support and asks about joining the Lincoln Littles Peer Mentor Program.

Next up, a mom and baby stop by our office, they just moved to Lincoln so mom can attend grad school at the University.
“Are there any programs to help me with childcare while I work to better my family?”

As soon as she left, I received a call from a teacher at one of our local middle schools.
“I don’t want to leave my teaching career but if I don’t find help paying for childcare, I won’t have an option.”

Then the call from a director of a childcare center who wants to increase the quality of her program.
“To raise quality, I need to make some improvements to the infant classroom. Can you help? Are there any grants available?”

Another director calls saying she needs staff. She has families waiting to start but can’t enroll them if she doesn’t get some teachers hired.

Over the past several months there were the calls from childcare programs struggling to stay open:
“Can you help us stay open?”
“Can you help us close gracefully?”
“Can you help us find places for the kids and staff to go?”

At 6 pm, I host an informational session for childcare staff to help them understand the new school readiness tax credit so they can claim anywhere from $2,300 up to $3,500 and increase their income. 

After that, I call it a day. A good day. These are just a few of the calls that come into our office. You may have noticed we’ve changed the timing of our annual fundraising campaign so that we can keep helping the folks who know they can pick up the phone and call Lincoln Littles. The need is as urgent as ever.

When you give, you make more stories like these possible. Will you join me and all of us at Lincoln Littles in answering the call?

Suzanne Schneider is the associate director for Lincoln Littles. To support access to quality and affordable early childcare with a gift to Lincoln Littles visit LincolnLittles.org.